Reflection of Longs Peak
by paganini

Comment:
Why does the G2 at F8 have more dof than 10D at f16? It's, however, your next sentence that i meant. Sometimes you want definition from foreground to far background for the shot to work and have the most impact. Actually, with mountains in the background, that's often the case.
It's this shot i was thinking of yesterday when i took those shots of the baby seal. Remember the other oops-shot from the other day of bay/Bellingham/Mt Baker? Actually, that was pretty much the background for the baby seal shots. I thought it would have been a spectacular shot of having that seal (but sharp :) on the rock in the bay and be able to see the city and the mountains clearly in the distance. Trust me, i tried. Even if i had been able to come closer to the seal, there would have been too much blur for the shot to work.
Similarly, yesterday, i took some shots, mainly unposed, of a Native American girl standing in the water (will put them in my portfolio tomorrow or so). I tried to put her in the context of the beautiful landscape. Well, it's somewhat akin to you saying to 'find an interesting foreground for the beautiful landscape behind'. But i think i ended up with some unsatisfactory hybrids that are neither sharp portrait nor landscape. So, some of those shots i ended up cropping just to end up with half decent 'portraits' but that's not what i was after. I just think i made the wrong decision and should have gone for the girl and forget about the landscape behind her.

Silky Water
by paganini

Comment:
lol. It's limitations such as these that make nature photography so very hard and i truly appreciate nature photographs that are perfection. They don't come about easily. What i can conclude then is that this shot was untakenable (unless one has a death wish) in-camera. Since the image is really fine, i would have no qualms to save it by doing some darkroom editing. All the detail seem to be in it so it shouldn't be hard. You need that left rock to frame the fall but, at least to me, the darkness of the rock overpowers.

Have you seen this? //www.wacom.com/tips/tip.cfm?ID=62&STEP=1&category=Photoshop

That is a handy non-destructive way to d&b. Besides, i have gotten lots of good PS tips from that site, forgot to visit it recently so i missed the above handy tip until someone posted it this afternoon.

California Reflections
by byetko

Comment:
Having oddball taste, i thought for sure to be able to bring up a different viewpoint to this thread. But i can't. This is a great shot. Love the abstractness of the wheel.

Lotus Series
by paganini

Comment:
I liked the other image but i like this one even much better. Whereas the other one is all tranquility, this one is vibrant with life. Love the unfolding of the flower, and the position of the top leaf. What makes it spectacular is that you can see the leaves below and the stems reaching down into the water. Knowing your feelings about nature, you'll probably bemoan the brown spots on the left leaf. It's okay really : this image is such a pleasure to look at.

Reflection of Longs Peak
by paganini

Comment:
Notice that, ggg, the D10 goes to F16! Sure makes for a lot of difference in the depth of an image as you can clearly see here. In western WA, even outside the mountains, you often have the same weather conditions: overcast or cloudy and yet bright (this combination drives me nuts). That probably accounts why that one branch/log near the notice is blown out somewhat (would burn it a little).
This is indeed a very impressive photograph. Yet, i have some trouble relating to it (have seen it a few times now) and don't quite know why that is. Perhaps because it consists mainly of cold colors? My eye likes to linger on the logs most in the foreground and they happen to have the most warm tones. ???

Silky Water
by paganini

Comment:
The problem i have with this image is the dark rock on the left. It's so dark compared to the water that it reads like a hole (even on the thumbnail) and its sharp edge doesn't help either. It just doesn't belong with the tonality of the rest of the image The waterfall is excellent (good exposure!!) and is reminiscent of Chinese paintings. The part on the right is good too. If you would dodge the dark rock, this would be an excellent nature shot.

Opening
by paganini

Comment:
Perfect exposure. I have been studying the brightest petal to see whether you burned it but don't detect any signs of it :) That's pretty impressive. Lovely composition and colors as well.

almost androgynous
by grigrigirl

Comment:
comment deleted

Message edited by author 2003-07-31 00:37:15.

Maria Di Capi
by zeuszen

Comment:
i scored this high because i appreciated the hard realism of the shot. I liked the overall darkness but in some places that became a bit of a problem, notably the left thigh. Nor did i particularly care for whatever was on her lower legs ?? But, what i liked a lot of this shot is the aesthetics. Absolutely, yes, aesthetics. I liked the proud look of this woman who says "This is who i am, this is how most real women look. I have gone through the ropes, i have born children, i wear the scars of life". Please give my highest compliments to your model. In fact, she reminds me of many a model during my lifedrawing sessions and it wouldn't surprise me if she is one as she certainly knows how to pose. One of the things i enjoyed about this shot is the proud look on her face.
Well done, zeuszen, and thank you.

DQ'd country life
by grigrigirl

Comment:
Think this was justifiably DQ'ed.

Message edited by author 2003-07-31 02:13:47.